An Art Education in One Week

Gregory Manchess

Wednesday, June 20th, 2018

We just wrapped up teaching at the eleventh Illustration Master Class. As always, the IMC provided so much energy and inspiration that I’ve returned to my studio with many ideas, many stories, and lots of technical information. This year’s guests included James Gurney, Kent Williams, Tara McPherson, Greg Ruth, Senior Art Director Jeremy Jarvis, Creative Director Lauren Panepinto, Art Dealer Lance Rehs, and Marc Scheff of Every Day Original.

IMC is the kind of teaching environment I thought art school, any art school, was supposed to be like: instructors lecturing on the overall aspects of an art career, with personal instruction, paying particular attention to a student’s mistakes and successes. I didn’t find that at the school I attended. The overwhelming attitude there was that 2% of us would ever “make it” and that you could try to have a career in art, but they wouldn’t recommend it…unless you magically arrived at the right formula to be considered “gifted.”

Not so with the IMC. I am part of a fantastic team of painters who have a much better approach to training a person to become more of a skilled artist than they already are. Since it is a one-week, intensely-focused workshop, we work with great focus to ensure a student returns home with plenty of information and insight to continue on with their own instruction and development.

In other words, we take the principles of brilliant picture-making, coupled with experience and attention, and strive to instill in all the attendees methods for working in the field and achieving a career.

Coming from such a confusing and depressing art education, I’m elated to be able to work with our students the way Iwould’ve wanted to be trained. The eight basic instructors, Rebecca Leveille Guay, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Dan Dos Santos, Donato Giancola, Scott Fischer, myself, and renowned art director, Irene Gallo, do our utmost to give as much one-on-one instruction as we possibly can. Students can come up to us as well, to pull us to their station to work out a particular problem or even ask questions about their portfolio or direction.

What you see in these photos is the joy of finding a home, a community of like-minded artists striving to be their best. IMC is also a safe place to fail. For in that attempt of reaching for your vision, we all encounter false-starts, fears, and failures. We embrace the fact that every artist is challenged by similar efforts to create.

At the end of this life-changing week, many friendships are made because of that struggle, exactlybecause we faced those many challenges together.

That’s what I thought art school was supposed to be about. When I found it wasn’t, I never wanted to teach anyone. Ever. Until I was asked by Rebecca Leveille Guay, the IMC’s founder, to join the team and share how I paint. The IMC changed my life, too. I’ve never painted as well as I have since my first expose to our students eleven years ago.

New Muddy readers looking to get an idea of the kind of information we share at IMC and in my online classes can check out my series of “10 Things About…” on this site.

If you’ve ever been confused or uncertain of how to attain your dream of becoming an artist, or what to do to take that next leap up in skill, consider joining us nexttime at the Illustration Master Class and connect with our ever-widening community of creatives.

catching a nap

Creating a moment that communicates emotionally with the viewer is the essence of Gregory Manchess’ artwork. A native of Kentucky, he spent two years as a studio illustrator with Hellman Design Associates before striking out on his own in 1979.He combined his love for fine art and science fiction and began his freelance career painting for OMNI magazine. His versatility and broad range of interests allowed him to crossover to mainstream illustration. There he was able to expand his client work to include covers for Time, Atlantic Monthly, spreads for Playboy, Omni, Newsweek, and Smithsonian, and numerous book covers.Manchess’ interest in history and his excellent figure work has made his paintings a favorite choice of the National Geographic Society on many occasions, including an expedition down the Fond du Lac river in Canada for the 1996 article David Thomson: The Man Who Measured Canada.Widely awarded within the industry, Manchess exhibits frequently at the Society of Illustrators in New York. His peers at the Society presented him with their highest honor, the coveted Hamilton King Award in 1999, and a year later, the Stephan Dohanos Award.Manchess’ work has also been recognized in the children’s book market. His latest children’s book illustrations narrate the story Cheyenne Medicine Hat about wild mustangs. A lavishly illustrated limited edition of Robt. E. Howard CONAN stories with over 60 paintings, is due out in 2010. He has recently finished 10 murals for a traveling exhibition on the Pirate ship, Whydah, for the Nat’l Geographic Society. His painting of the Oregon coast was used for the 2009 Oregon Statehood Stamp by the USPS.Gregory is included in Walt Reed’s latest edition of “The Illustrator in America, 1860-2000.” He lectures frequently at universities and colleges nationwide and gives workshops in painting at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, MA, and the Illustration Master Class in Amherst, MA.

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1 Comment

Greg and Irene, this post captures the magic of IMC from the student’s perspective. IMC is a deeply engaging experience for each person who spends that week in company with the others taking the journey from rough sketches to a finished painting under the nurturing eyes of all the instructors.